


Birthday Beer

by CadetDru



Series: Before [1]
Category: Dollhouse
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon, Schizophrenia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2013-02-17
Packaged: 2017-11-29 15:57:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/688772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadetDru/pseuds/CadetDru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Claire decided to join the Dollhouse, and Topher's favorite type of Doll.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Beer

Claire and Topher were not the best of friends. They'd been pals in pre-med. They had a few interests in common. And then she needed someone to confide in, a true friend. and they became The Best of Friends. 

They were in her apartment, drinking beer and sharing secrets. It was her twenty-fourth birthday. This was their tradition: birthday beer. They'd play games, watch old shows, just hang out as friends. She was escalating the emotional intimacy level and Topher didn't quite know how to deal. Claire knew she had a predisposition to schizophrenia. She'd had a few tiny little episodes she'd never told anyone-- but Topher-- about. A few times that scared her, scared her old friends into not being old friends. Hallucinations without the hallucinogens. Patterns without meaning. Knowledge of things unknowable. 

"One day, I'll just go away," she said. "I'll walk and talk and wear tinfoil hats and not shower or move, and the real me will just be gone."

The backs of their hands brushed. "Hey," he said, almost reaching out for her. He did reach for her, took her hand. 

She pushed his hand away. "Hey what?" she said, packing as much anger into those two syllables.

"They're making great strides. . ." he said.

She silenced him with a look, a "you have to be kidding me" kind of look. "You dpon't have to pretend to be that person, that listening person. That's not you. That's not me either. I'm just telling you this now so someone knows, so if something happens. . . I need you to know."

He nodded. He kept her secret, that and the other secrets that made her who she really was. She kept his too. That was friendship, that was trust. 

One day, months later, she snapped. He could help with the intake checklist, but that was all he could do. He got her the best medications, treatment. She was getting experimental care.

And then he found a way to help her with his fabulous new job. He signed her up to be a doll, got a nice referral bonus for it. Nowhere near the money she was going to get, of course. They rode up in the elevator together to Adelle's office. He was allowed to come, since he'd made the referral himself. She wore her very best clothes, not their usual mix of geek and nerd wear. "Is this. . .will this work?" she asked. 

He took her hand. She let him this time. "You'll be your very best, and when you come out. .. all of this pain will be gone. You'll just be the real you."

"Again," she said, since he wouldn't. "The me I should've been, the me I was before all this."

"You still are...her. You. You're you, Claire. You're Claire."

"For now."

"That's why we're doing this. So you can be Claire again."

"I'm doing this. You're just replacing me."

The elevator doors opened and they walked into Adelle's office together, still holding hands. Claire kissed him for the first time, the last time, before she signed the papers. "Thank you," she said, moving her lips to his cheek. "Thank you so much for this."

"You're welcome," he said, a little stunned.

"See you in five years." 

"We'll still have our birthday beer," he whispered. He pulled away. 

Adelle smiled at him, and his heart lurched. Then she focused on Claire.


End file.
